Leveling stands

[BlackTip]

I am finished building the frame of the stand (96X30X36 tall). I am going to skin it with 3/4" plywood, door panels etc.

I moved the frame to the house and placed it where it will reside just to check. It will backed to a wall with probably about 6" clearance. I was disappointed - the stand is not level. It is off by about 1/4" in one corner. When I shim that corner, I had to adjust the others. After I finished, the 96" beam of the foot were not fully resting on the floor

What is the best way to level it?

1- Is there anything I can put underneath like a rubber mat or something?

2- Is it better to shim the frame now and nail the shims in place?

3- Should I wait until the stand fully built then shim? It will be almost impossible to shim the backside?

My house is on a crawl space. The area under the tank is supported by extra joists and house jacks. Will this area settle a bit after the full weight of the tank is put on it?

Thanks,

 

[Tigerdragon]

The beam is not what carries the weight it just distributes it evenly to all the downward posts. Should be running at least 6 legs on a tank that size.

 

[RocketEngineer]

I would place shims at every vertical leg at the minimum. For mine, I run shims the whole length and if necessary on the ends. Getting the back isn't normally an issue as the floors almost always slope away from the walls.

Avoid nailing the shims. If you need to make small adjustments later they won't move.

The best way I have found is to do an initial shim to get the top of the stand level. Once you add water things may settle slightly but most of the time I don't have to adjust anything. The stand for my 125g setup was totally finished before I placed it so when I got everything shimmed, I cut all the shims flush with the front of the stand. If you didn't go looking for it you would never notice them.